Many times we use WhatsApp emojis to express a feeling, indicate something or decorate our chats, however, there is one that is used quite often and that is the thumbs up, however, it hides a danger.

Well, a court in Canada has decided that the emoji signifies that a person is officially entering into a contract.

The Thumbs Up Emoji Decision

The judge called the act “a new reality in Canadian society”, which may give the courts more work to do, as they would have to deal with cases where people used heart, face emojis and even fire to express themselves, even in business. or personal conflicts.

The discussion arose from the need to determine whether a farmer in a Canadian province called Saskatchewan agreed to sell 87 tonnes of flaxseed to a buyer in 2021. The latter had signed the contract and sent a photo to which the thumbs up emoji.

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Chris Achter, the farmer, claimed the emoji only confirmed that he had received the contract, not confirmation that he agreed to the terms. Apparently he understood the text to mean that the entire contract would then be faxed or emailed to him for him to review and then sign.

For his part, the buyer said that when he texted the photo of the contract, he wrote “please confirm the linen contract”. So when the farmer responded with the emoji, the man knew he was okay with the contract and that was his way of signing it.

The judge then pointed out that the two already had a long business relationship and that with other contracts he had answered briefly. Either with a “yes”, or “I see it well”, and even “agree”.

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Accepted a contract by only sending a thumbs up emoji

In view of the above, the judge found that both parties understood that this type of concise answers constituted confirmation of the contract. Finally, he determined that it was a valid contract and ordered the farmer to pay damages in the amount of CAN$82,200, or US$61,000; which is equivalent to 244,793,354 Colombian pesos.

“This court recognizes that a (thumbs up) emoji is a non-traditional way to ‘sign’ a document; however, in these circumstances, it was a valid means of conveying the two purposes of a ‘signature’: to identify the signatory”.

Also read: What was the most used and least used emoji in 2021?

The judge said that in making his decision, he cited Dictionary.com’s definition of the thumbs-up emoji: “used to express assent, approval or encouragement in digital communications, especially in Western cultures”.